How to Cook Some Goofy Grub

By Sarah KernerPhotographs by Olivia Ogren-Hrejsa

Campout cooking doesn’t have to mean Dutch ovens or dehydrated food. We scoured cookbooks, the Internet and our memories for these six strange recipes and oddball cooking methods. Then we challenged a Scout troop to try them out.

The result? Lots of laughs — and some surprisingly good chow.

Orange Peel Cakes

THE CHALLENGE: Bake cakes in the coals.

INGREDIENTS:

1 8 oz. box Jiffy yellow cake mix

1 egg

1/2 cup water

6 large, thick-skinned oranges

Cooking a cake on coals is a snap when you use a hollowed-out orange peel instead of a pan.

The Scouts combined the cake mix, egg and water and stirred up some batter. Then they cut a small “lid” in the top of each of six big navel oranges and scooped out the insides, just like carving a pumpkin. They were very careful not to damage the shell.

The Scouts ate the orange pulp, then poured the cake batter into the gutted oranges, each about two-thirds full.

They popped the “lids” back on the oranges, wrapped them in heavy foil, and set them on the coals for about 20 minutes, turning them often.

THE RESULT: The orange-peel cakes were a hit. Spongy and moist, with a hint of, well, orange, they could be eaten with a spoon or peeled for a hot orange cake.

Pinto Bean Fudge

THE CHALLENGE: Don’t think about it — just keep stirring.

INGREDIENTS:

2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk

1 1/2 cup mini marshmallows

1 can pinto beans, drained

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 2/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup chopped nuts

1 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Butter for greasing pan

Pinto Bean Fudge is for real, thanks to a long-ago camper who discovered that a can of pinto beans can be substituted for a pound of butter when making fudge.

To make it, the Scouts combined sugar and milk in a large pan and boiled it for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. They then added the remaining ingredients (including the beans!) and stirred until the marshmallows melted. Finally, they poured the finished fudge into a shallow, buttered pan and tucked it in the cooler to chill.

THE RESULT: Delicious, with no hint of an aftertaste from the pinto beans.

Dingle Fan Chicken

THE CHALLENGE: Can something called a “dingle fan” cook chicken at all?

EQUIPMENT:

Long pole (a broom handle works well)

6-inch length of chain

Heavy string

Wire

Wire cutters

Paper plate

Skewer or short stick

Large and small rocks

Instant meat thermometer

2 “S” hooks or additional wire

INGREDIENTS:

Whole chicken

Seasonings

Butter for basting

Dingle fan roasting is for campers who have better things to do than fuss over their food. Rather than endlessly basting and turning a piece of meat over a fire, campers can let this fan-powered rotisserie do the work.

The Scouts wedged a long wooden pole between two rocks so that it angled very near — but not directly over — the flames. Next, they attached a short length of chain to the end of the pole using the wire and “S” hooks.

The next step was to make the dingle fan by sticking a paper plate on the end of a metal skewer. The fan would be attached to the chain, from which a raw chicken would hang. (Be sure to leave enough space between the fan and the flames, since that plate could catch fire if it’s left too close.) A small rock or other was attached to the free end of the skewer to counter-balance it and make it level.

If everything was set up correctly, the heat from the fire should hit the fan, causing the chicken to slowly rotate throughout the cooking process.

All we needed now was a chicken, innards removed, seasoned and buttered and bound in string.

Once dangling from the chain, the chicken wouldn’t need tending other than basting it occasionally with butter. After about two hours, it should be fully cooked, but the Scouts planned to check it with the meat thermometer to be safe.

THE RESULT: Even after falling into the dirt a couple of times, the Dingle Fan Chicken was a thing of beauty. The fan had worked. The chicken was golden and crispy on the outside and perfectly cooked on the inside.

The Scouts popped popcorn over the camp fire, blended it with the remaining ingredients and served immediately.

THE RESULT: Not surprisingly, this recipe isn’t a huge hit with all the Scouts, although it got good reviews from some of the tasters.

Solar Oven Bread

THE CHALLENGE: Bake a loaf of bread … without fire or electricity.

EQUIPMENT:

Jar, painted black on the outside

2-foot by 4-foot sheet of cardboard

Aluminum foil

Clear plastic bag

INGREDIENTS:

Premade, refrigerated bread dough (or make it homemade)

Cooking with the power of the sun is ideal for campers who want to try something fun and different.

Our solar oven called for bending a 2-foot-by- 4-foot sheet of cardboard into the shape of a funnel and covering the inside with aluminum foil. When the funnel is angled toward the sun, heat builds up in the base of the funnel.

The Scouts made bread dough and kneaded it for about five minutes before putting it into a two-quart jar, spray-painted black to make it absorb more heat. They could have also used premade, refrigerated dough.

Before putting the jar into the funnel, the Scouts slipped it into a clear plastic bag, then blew air into the bag and closed it with a twist tie. This extra step created a “greenhouse effect” around the jar, allowing for additional heat build-up.

If all went well, the dough would rise inside the jar and, perhaps, bake.

THE RESULT: The Scouts kept their eyes on the solar oven all afternoon and had given it an occasional nudge to keep it in the path of the sun’s rays. Its temperature had peaked at 310 degrees. Not only had the dough risen, it had baked to perfection, filling the jar.

Ice Cream Football

THE CHALLENGE: Make ice cream without a freezer

EQUIPMENT:

2 (1-quart) zip-top bags

2 (1-gallon) zip-top bags

1 (8-pound) bag of ice, crushed or in cubes

1/2 cup rock salt

Newspaper

Heavy-duty tape

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup whole milk

1 cup whipping cream

1/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

You need milk, cream and sugar to make ice cream, plus rock salt and lots of ice. As long as the ingredients keep moving and stay cold enough, the mixture will turn into ice cream.

The Scouts measured the ingredients into a quart-size zip-top bag, and squeezed out all the air and sealed the bag. They placed this bag inside the other quart bag and sealed it. Then they put this double-bagged ice cream mix inside a gallon zip-top bag.

They then filled the gallon-size bag with ice, sprinkled the ice with rock salt and sealed the bag. They placed this bag inside the other gallon bag and sealed it again.

Now for the football part.

The Scouts wrapped the bags in layers of newspaper and secured the bundle with duct tape. The resulting “football” was ready for about 20 minutes of passing — to keep the mixture moving — before being spiked into the ice chest.

Here is the recipe for “Marshmallow and Sweet Gherkin Pickle Slice Pizza”

1. Take an uncooked circular cut pizza dough and put tomato sauce, marshmallow, sweet gherkin pickle slices on the uncooked circular cut pizza dough.
2. Cover the marshmallow and sweet gherkin pickle slices with store bought barbecue sauce.
3. Cover the marshmallow and sweet gherkin pickle slices and barbecue sauce with shredded mozzarella cheese.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F in an oven for about thirty (30) minutes or until cooked completely where the cheese is completely melted and slightly browned. Do not burn the melted cheese (You can, it will still be okay to eat the burned pizza cheese, but it isn’t the best tasting pizza that has ever been cooked.)
5. Enjoy the “Marshmallow and Sweet Gherkin Pickle Slice Pizza”.

One (1) box of the Jello Brand of Tapioca Pudding
One (1) box of the Jello Brand of Banana Pudding
One (1) twenty-four (24) ounce jar of Jif Smooth and Creamy Peanut Butter
One (1) container of Cool Whip Whipped Cream Topping
One (1) container of Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup

Directions:
1. Make the Jello Brand of Tapioca Pudding and the Jello Brand of Banana Pudding as directed by the instructions on the respective ingredients boxes of the Jello Brands of tapioca pudding and banana pudding.
2. Combine the freshly made tapioca pudding and the banana pudding together. Blend well.
3. Add four (4) ounces of Jiff Smooth and Creamy peanut butter to the pudding mixture. Use a kitchen-aid hand held electric mixer or a Waring blender or a Sunbeam Cake mixer and blend the peanut butter and pudding mixture until the mixture is blended well.
4. Serve the peanut butter and pudding mixture in an eight ounce dessert bowl. Add One (1) tablespoonful of Cool Whip whipped cream topping to the peanut butter and pudding mixture. Drizzle some Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup over the peanut butter and pudding mixture.
5. Enjoy the “Pearls in the Mud” dessert.

Here is the recipe for a “Fog at the Chapel in the Woodland Forest” refreshment drink.

Mix the following ingredients together:

Two (2) fluid ounces of Welch’s (PURPLE) Pasteurized Concord Grape Juice
Two (2) fluid ounces of pasteurized apple cider
Two (2) fluid ounces of Coca Cola Classic soft drink (carbonated beverage)
Two (2) fluid ounces of homogenized milk (whole milk, 2% white milk, 1% white milk, or skim white milk is okay to use. The resulting refreshment drink will not be affected if any of the different types of homogenized milk are used to make a “Fog at the Chapel in the Woodland Forest” refreshment beverage.
This recipe will make Eight (8) fluid ounces of a “Fog at the Chapel in the Woodland Forest” refreshment beverage. This refreshment beverage is great for use with popcorn, Caramel Candied Golden Delicious Apples, oven baked soft pretzels, hard pretzels, square saltine soup crackers (square soda crackers) and Turkey Sandwiches.

Five (5) fluid ounces of pasteurized apple cider
Five (5) fluid ounces of fresh orange juice
Five (5) fluid ounces of homogenized milk (whole milk, 2% milk, 1% milk or skim milk is okay to use in this recipe. The final resulting refreshment drink will be safe and okay to drink)
This recipe will result in sixteen (16) fluid ounces of the above named refreshment drink (“Fog in Santa Land”). This refreshment drink is really great with popcorn, hard pretzels, oven baked soft pretzels, slices of pepperoni pizza, slices of cheese pizza and roast beef sandwiches. This refreshment drink is really great with SPAM lunchmeat sandwiches.

Here is the recipe for “Fog on the school’s orchestra, concert band, stage band, light rock music band, heavy rock music band, Billboard “American Top 40 showmanship band, marching band and chorus classes’ picnic school bus”:

Mix the following ingredients together:

Four (4) fluid ounces of pasteurized apple cider
One (1) tablespoonful of yellow mustard
Four (4) fluid ounces of homogenized milk (whole milk, 2% milk, 1% milk or skim milk is quite adequate for this recipe)
This recipe makes Eight (8) fluid ounces of the above refreshment drink. This refreshment drink goes great with popcorn, ham and beans, pork and beans, cooked beans with sliced hotdog pieces cooked in the beans. The above refreshment drink also goes great with beans and bacon slices as well as ham and cheddar cheese sandwiches and ham and Swiss cheese sandwiches.

This one is sure to amaze. I call it “Paper Cup Cocoa”. Take a paper cup (it must be paper) and fill it 3/4 full of water. Make a hole in the coals big enough for the cup to sit in without touching the cup. Place the cup in the hole and wait. In a few minutes the water will simmer and then boil. Lift the cup out (I use a leather glove) and mix your cocoa. Try other things as well. If you can cook it in a pan or a Dutch you can cook it in a paper cup. Your friends will think your nuts until they see the results.

Here is the recipe for a chocolate glazed crepe’:
1. Prepare a pancake using “Just Add Water” Pancake mix. Pour the pancake mix in a cooking skillet. Cook the pancake mix until the batter begins stiff enough to flip the pancake. Flip the pancake and continue cooking until the pancake is fully cooked.
2. Place the created pancake on a paper plate.
3. Spread grape jelly or apple jelly on the top of the pancake.
4. Begin folding the pancake over into a jelly roll so that there are spirals of jelly inside of the blanket roll or jelly roll pancake.
5. Put a tooth pick in the middle of the blanket roll or jelly roll pancake. A blanket roll or jelly roll pancake is called a cre’pe.
6. Drizzle chocolate syrup over the blanket roll or jelly roll pancake. Enjoy the Chocolate glazed cre’pe.

For the recipe of “Tootsie Roll Pancakes”, do the following:
1. In a mixing bowl, add some “Just add water” pancake mix and add the correct amount of water according to the directions on the package labeling. Mix until all of the powder has made the pancake batter.
2. Open a package of tootsie roll chocolate candy and remove all of the individual paper wrappers from the tootsie roll candy. Add the tootsie roll candy to the pancake batter.
3. On a griddle, cook pancakes using the tootsie roll pancake batter as with normal pancakes by creating about four inch round pancakes.
4. Flip the pancakes as normal pancakes making sure that the batter is stiff enough to hold the tootsie rolls in the pancake.
5. Serve the created pancakes with butter, maple syrup or wildflower honey. Enjoy the “Tootsie Roll Candy” pancakes.

If you find the brown flower of a bulrush (cat tail) plant or a dandelion, follow the directions for preparation in an older edition of the Boy Scout Fieldbook or an older edition of the Wilderness Survival Merit Badge pamphlet and create a campsite salad from edible wild plants. Prepare a salad dressing from adding ketchup, vinegar, salt, pepper, vegetable oil and some worcester sauce and add the campsite salad dressing to the dandelion or cat tail salad. Makes for a fairly good meal from edible wild native plants at a campsite.

These are great ideas. Another idea is to harvest some fresh water clams from a fresh water lake near the campsite (always have your resident fishing license up to date) and then coat the freshwater clams with whatever bread coating mix that you may have (McCormick’s Golden Dip, Washington Cornbread mix or dry pancake mix) and then fry the freshwater clams in a cast iron camping skillet for a great fried clams dinner at a campout. Even better, make Trailbread Twists for a great campsite clambake dinner.

That sound’s great! Here’s another strange recipee: Wrap a seasoned ham-burber padey, onions slices, carot slices, & potato slices in aluminum foil. Then, bake it in the coals like the orange peel cake. When it comes out, the vegetables will have seasoned the burger.

LOOK THAT WAS GOOD I TRYED THAT LAST NIGHT AND MY BOOY BFRIEND SAID THAT IT WAS GOOD TOO AND THAT WAS NOT WRITE ABOUT HIM BECAUSE HE IS NOT THE TYPE OF THING HE WILL EAT AND HE IS NOT A DARE DEVILL LIKE I AM BUT I THINK HE IS